Rewritten
by DemonicWhisper
Summary: In a moment of sadness,Yugi wishes a different life for the Pharaoh. A certain Puzzle answers his plea. What would it be if Atem was never a Pharaoh but just a teenager,like everyone else? How would everybody's lives change? And who would stop Bakura from taking over the world?
1. Chapter 1

**I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh. If I did,it would have been much more...twisted (insert evil laugh here). So,I've started this new story... Yeah... I should warn you that English isn't my first language,so... Don't be too harsh? Pretty please? I appreciate constructive criticism,though... Feel free to give ideas,too. I'm gonna stop blabbing now. Here goes...**

**Chapter 1**

"Hey,Yugi! Wait up!"

Yugi turned around as soon as he heard the familiar voice of a friend,running towards him.

"Hey!",he greeted Tea cheerfully when she finally managed to catch up with him. "What's going on Tea?"

"I-uh-",the girl in front of him suddenly blushed,"Are you going home?"

"Yeah,uh,I promised grandpa I'd do some chores after school",he looked at her quizzically,"Why,did you have something in mind?"

"Uhm-",her cheeks were burning red now and she was starting to feel angry with herself.

_"Oh,get a grip,Tea!"_

_"_I just thought that after me and...the Pharaoh spent last Friday together,with going to the museum and all...maybe it would be good to...well,do it again these days? I mean,maybe it will help him trigger his memories this time!_"_

She nearly cringed at her own pathetic try to bend the truth. But she couldn't just tell Yugi the truth. Well,sure,she wanted to help the Pharaoh and all,but this _really _wan't the only reason she wanted to go out with him again. The truth was,Tea was starting to feel something she had never felt before towards the mysterious dark spirit from Yugi's puzzle. Especially recently,when she was finally getting to know him for who he truly was. Not some millennia-old Egyptian Pharaoh with the destiny to save mankind from darkness. He was kind,and compassionate,and,not to mention,a real like and so unlike Yugi at the same that Yugi didn't possess any of the listed qualities above,no. It was just that Yugi was...well,Yugi. The sweet and innocent Yugi,once so shy to the point of being antisocial. The Pharaoh,on the other hand...He was more confident,darker and had that _regal _charisma all around him. He was often quiet and kept his thoughts to himself alone,usually letting Yugi do the talking outside the duel arena. But that was expected,provided that he had so many questions and not even one satisfying answer.

"Yeah!Sure,Tea!",Yugi exclaimed with a wide smile on his face,"I also think that's a good all,we have nothing to lose,right?"

"Right",she smiled rather bashfully.

"But would you mind if we do it tomorrow,cause I already promised grandpa that.. "

"Oh,don't worry,Yugi! We don't have to go right _now_,tomorrow sounds fine!"

"Well,it's a date then!",Yugi let out a harmless laugh to Tea's slight discomfort at the word "date"."See you tomorrow!"

She watched as the spiky-haired boy walked away and soon hid behind the corner. Then she let out a sigh.

"_Dummy_",she mentally kicked herself_,"Why did you have to act so foolishly?What are you-five?I bet he did see right through ..."_

The moment Tea could no longer see him,Yugi looked down at the puzzle and smiled impishly,"Guess who has a date tomorrow."

The slim silhouette of Yami suddenly appeared next to him.

"I am well aware,Yugi. I was there. I must say that I am mildly surprised by how Tea took helping me unravel my past to heart. I am greatly thankful to her for that."

Yugi's smile grew even wider and he slightly shook his head with amusement.

"You _do _know what I meant by _date_,right? "

The Pharaoh looked at him as if his partner was mocking his intelligence.

"Well,yes,of course. A meeting with a friend who offers her help in order to..."

But he suddenly stopped as Yugi started to laugh.

"May I ask what is it that you find so amusing,Yugi?",Yami narrowed his eyes in suspicion.

"Ooh,boy. Do you mean to tell me that you've never had a _date _date in your days as a Pharaoh? "

"A _date _date?",the Pharaoh asked completely oblivious,"Yugi,I must admit that the meaning of whatever you're implying keeps eluding me."

"Yami",once Yugi managed to pull himself together and stop laughing,he looked at his darker half with sympathy,"Tea offered to help,because she _likes _you. And I don't mean only as a friend.I mean,like a girl likes a ,in this case,like a girl likes a three thousand year-old Egyptian Pharaoh."

Yami blinked. Then stared at Yugi. Then blinked again. It took a moment to sink in. Then,much to Yugi's surprise...the Pharaoh blushed. He didn't even know that the spirit had the _option _to blush. He was always so self-assured and not letting anything get to him. But there he was now,blushing like a hot tomato,unable to say anything comprehensible.

"_Oh,this is a Kodak moment_",Yugi thought to himself,this close to bursting out laughing.

"But I...She never...How did...When did you...So tomorrow..."

"Tomorrow you're going on a date with Tea",Yugi nodded in agreement of the words that never got out of Yami's mouth.

"But...Yugi!",the Pharaoh finally managed to overcome the initial shock,"Ï'm not prepared for _this_!This isn't a _duel_!"

"Oh,come on. You said that last time and you did just fine,remember?"

"But last time I didn't knew of the matter!"

"_The matter,_is just one harmless date,Pharaoh! Come on,you must have liked someone in your past! After all,you were still a teenager back then! "

"This is just the problem,Yugi! I don't remember anything from my past! I have no knowledge of having any affair of the heart",the spirit looked saddened as he glanced down at his millennium puzzle,"I have been lost in this eternal game of shadow and light for so long that even if I _did _remember anything of the sort...maybe I wouldn't care about it any more."

The cheerfulness had disappeared from Yugi's face,too. He could feel the sorrow that his partner was keeping deep inside of him as his had given his youth,his life for his people. He'd never had the chance to experience anything normal as just going out with his friends and having fun or meeting his first teenage love...Yugi was so used to thinking of him as an ancient Pharaoh that he never saw the young boy who was still living in the very core of his heart.

"How old are you?",Yugi suddenly asked which forced the Pharaoh to come back from the dark corner of his mind he had once again unconsciously gone to.

"What do you mean,Yugi?",he asked slightly surprised by the sudden enquiry,"You know my age. I'm more than three thousa-"

"No,I don't mean that age",Yugi interrupted,"I mean the age that you...died. How old were you then?"

"I cannot be entirely sure. But if I were to guess,I would say...somewhere around eighteen,I suppose."

_"Eighteen",_Yugi thought bitterly_,"That's only two years older than me." _He clenched his fists his head dropped on his chest,a single tear falling down on the surface of the millennium item.

"That's...not...fair... Why did destiny had to be _that _cruel? Couldn't she just have passed the burden of saving the world to somebody else?"

A sad smile appeared on Yami's lips and he touched Yugi under the chin,making him raise his head and look at him.

"If that had happened,partner",he whispered tenderly but confidently,"We would have never met. You would have never given me a part of that light that shines bright within your soul. And I would have never learned what a true friend is."

Yugi glared back at him,courage and hope sparkling in his teary eyes.

At that moment the millennium puzzle started emitting light so bright that it illuminated the world around them with its power. The _power..._Yami could feel it,pulling him back inside with its invisible chains around his very heart.

"Pharaoh,what's going on?",Yugi screamed with panic,not able to control his "treasure",as he once used to call it.

"I...DON'T...YUGI!"

The last thing either of them remembered was that mystical,blinding light that sent them into complete darkness.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"Wake up,you slacker!"

A sharp kick in the stomach caused the boy to wake up with a groan. His head felt like a ticking bomb that was about to blow up any minute now and the kick hadn't helped in the least. He tried blinking fast to make the sleepiness go away but the daylight was so bright and painful that it hurt his eyes. So he tried looking at the direction of the obnoxious male voice instead.

"What...", he tried saying but his own voice was so worn-out that it came out pathetically weak.

"I see you haven't even managed to get to your bed in time", the tall man with white hair,towering over him,said spitefully ,"What? Were you that wasted out of your mind? Jesus Christ! You are a disgrace to this family,Atem!"

The spiky-haired boy winced in pain and pinched the bridge of his nose between two fingers,closing his eyes shut,his eyebrows connecting in a frown.

"Yeah...can you just...not scream right now?"

That almost made the older man ballistic.

"Get your worthless ass up and go to school or I'm going to kick you out of this house right now!You have five minutes!",he then turned around,much to Atem's gratefulness,and walked out of the door, shutting it so fiercely that it almost fell out if its hinges.

_"Oh,yeah?"_,Atem thought daringly,_"Go on and do it then!I'm not planning to live under this roof for much longer,anyway!Sanctimonious asshole."_ He despised his uncle with all his heart. Aknadin had always been jealous of his father for so many reasons. One of them being that his father had married the girl _he_ had been in love with. But that was before...the accident. And now,with nobody else to take care of him,Atem had to stay with his uncle if he didn't want to be put in an orphanage. After two weeks,however,everything was finally going to change. He would finally turn eighteen. And he could get out of this hole,not looking back ever again.

But until then...

Atem tried to get up off the floor,staggering like drunk. And he knew that last night he had came home positively drunk. How he had managed to reach the front door,unlock it and not wake up his uncle was a miracle by itself. Maybe Markus and Christopher had somehow been able to drag him all the way here. After all,Markus owed him one. Three months ago his partner in crime had passed out on the street from too much alcohol in his blood. Or too little blood in his alcohol,he could go both ways with this one. It was Atem who took him home safe and sound. Well,he could ask him at school today. If he was there,of course,cause Markus wasn't the epitome of a diligent student.

Atem slipped into his black leather jeans and black T-shirt,put on his choker and tried to comb his hair so that it didn't look like a cat had been electrified on his head. He had to get a haircut one of those days but it just hadn't been the first thing on his to-do list lately. And,to be honest,he kinda liked this crazy hairstyle of his. He didn't even bother taking his backpack. He wasn't going to stay at school for that much longer anyway. After all,the teenager had to go to work if he wanted to save some money and move the hell out of here. Getting out of his room,he noticed that his uncle wasn't anywhere to be seen which he thanked God for. There wasn't breakfast. There was never breakfast. The dishes were piled up in the sink,waiting for him to do them later. He opened up the fridge only to find a six pack and a carton box of orange juice that had probably gone bad. He dared not try it.

Atem let out a sigh,_"Another terrific day in Domino City"_,he thought sarcastically before getting out of the house.

**xxxxxxxxx**

Yugi Motto snapped his eyes open and found himself staring at the ceiling. He stayed motionless for a minute,while reality was trying to get a hold of him. Had that been only a dream? But...it had felt so real. The shadows and the card games,and the vague voices talking about destiny,and the dangers awaiting...

But there he was,in his room,safe and sound. No shadows. No danger. The sunlight was timidly trying to make its way into the room. His alarm clock startled him as the alarm went off. Yugi shook his head,trying to get over the dream. It had been only a dream,after all.

"Yugi!Time for school!",he heard his grandpa calling out to him,"Breakfast is on the table!"

Yugi involuntarily cringed.

School.

Another day of sitting alone at his desk. Another day of being bullied.

Of course,he couldn't tell his grandpa about it,he was too ashamed. The only thing left to do was wait. Once high school ended,he would be free. Go to university,take courses in Archaeology and Ancient Languages and explore the magnificent secrets of the Ancient World. Maybe he had,to some extent,been influenced by his grandfather,who had been a famous archaeologist before he'd retired and opened the game shop. Yugi loved his stories and legends about legendary pharaohs and historic battles,hidden treasures and brave warriors. And the young boy wished to learn everything there was to know on the subject.

But until then...

Yugi peeled off the sheets and forced himself out of bed. He put on his blue jeans and white T-shirt and got downstairs,in the kitchen,to find his grandfather standing over the frying pan.

Sugoroku Motto smiled at his grandson when he noticed his presence.

"Good morning,sleepy head!"

"Hey,grandpa",the boy unsuccessfully tried to suppress a yawn,while sitting down on his usual place at the table. His grandfather put the last pancakes in the plate in front of Yugi,then ruffled his short but yet somehow messy hair.

"Here you go! And remember that each pancake gives you 1000 life points",Sugoroku laughed at his own game reference.

"You're in...surprisingly good mood today",Yugi couldn't help but notice.

"Oh,yes!",his grandpa positively beamed,"My old friend called me on the phone this morning and said that he would be bringing me an extremely rare Egyptian artifact his excavation team had found yesterday! "

Yugi was starting to get curious.

"Did he tell you what it was?"

"One of the seven Millennium Items of Ancient Egypt!",his grandfather nearly tweeted,"You have no idea for how long me and Professor Hawkins have been searching for them,Yugi! It is said that each one of these Items possesses a magical power. Their powers had been used by the High Priests of the Pharaoh,and the Pharaoh himself,more than three thousand years ago! This is all just a legend,of course,but it is also said that they used these Items in order to bring out the evil living inside people's souls and seal them away in stone tablets. And sometimes they would unleash those beasts,using real magic,to test their horrifying powers in a shadow game... But go on,eat your breakfast!"

Yugi was so fascinated by the story that he had completely forgotten to eat and he was holding his fork frozen mid-way to his mouth. The boy laughed.

"Sorry,grandpa,but this sounds really interesting! And familiar,too. Those games with monsters sound exactly like..."

"Duel Monsters,yes. And even though Maximillion Pegasus is considered the creator of that game,there is no doubt that he had,too,been aware of its ancient past."

"Did the Professor say when he was coming? I'd like to...see it,too,if you don't mind."

As wide smile appeared on Sugoroku's face.

"Just like your grandfather!", he laughed, "Always curious about everything! I'll see what I can do about it. But we can talk about it later. You will be late for school,young man."

_"Oh,yeah_",Yugi sighed,suddenly disappointed,_"Don't wanna miss another terrific day at Domino High School."_


End file.
